Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami has admitted that he is unlikely to play the upcoming fifth instalment in the Survival Horror franchise, suggesting that doing so would "just cause me stress".
"I probably won’t play it. I won’t like it, because it’s not going to be the game I would have made," he told Official PlayStation Magazine. It’ll just cause me stress if I play it. I think it could be fun for gamers to play it, but not for someone who has developed Resident Evil games.”
"If I see anything in Resident Evil 5 that isn’t done well, I’ll be angry!" he huffed.
Elsewhere, Mikami acknowledged the obvious similarities between Resident Evil 5 and its predecessor, though remained adamant that the franchise will need to “reinvent” itself again should a sixth instalment ever transpire.
"That’s fine, isn’t it? I think Resident Evil 5 doesn’t need to change the series, but Resident Evil 6 will have to reinvent the series with another full model change or else it won’t be able to keep on going,” he said.
Regarding his forthcoming projects with Suda 51 and Sega, Mikami admitted juggling two titles was “difficult”, "but I’m director on my game for Platinum Games and producer on the game for EA. So if Suda does his job properly, my workload will decrease."
Resident Evil 5 is due out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 13, 2009.